SAYREVILLE, N.J., November 9, 2016 – Today the Christie Administration highlighted one of New Jersey’s biggest industries at the Retail, Hospitality and Tourism (RHT) North Industry Summit in Sayreville. The summit focused on RHT as a key industry sector in New Jersey and provided a platform for business, education and government leaders to explore opportunities for employment and growth.

In 2015, leisure, hospitality and retail trade employed 814,979 workers, accounting for 24.6 percent of all private sector employment in the state. The industry cluster represented $46.9 billion or 9.2 percent of the state’s real Gross Domestic Product in 2015.

Deputy Commissioner Catherine Frugé Starghill of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development offered welcoming remarks at the event and discussed the department’s emphasis on building high-quality partnerships. The event also featured panel discussions on workplace diversity and credentials.

High-quality partnerships comprise industry employers, partnered with education, workforce, organized labor and economic development experts that seek to utilize industry data to create career pathways that result in industry-valued credentials, certificates or degrees for workers. Led by the state’s seven Talent Networks, high-quality partnerships facilitate the development of specific area workforce strategies that prepare a skilled workforce and provide new career pathways for students and jobseekers.

The Talent Networks are currently convening Targeted Industry Partnerships, or “TIPs,” throughout the state to propose specific-area workforce strategies. The state Department of Labor has committed $5 million to support the implementation of the strongest ideas developed through this process.

The state Labor Department launched the Talent Networks in 2011 to focus on the industry sectors that employ two-thirds of New Jersey workers and pay two-thirds of wages earned annually. The RHT Talent Network is divided regionally, with Fairleigh Dickinson University leading the northern region and Stockton University leading the southern region. The other Talent Networks are: Advanced Manufacturing, Health Care, Financial Services, Life Sciences, Technology, and Transportation, Logistics and Distribution.

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development is an equal employment opportunity employer and provides equal opportunity programs.
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